What is Outcomes-Based Training?
Imagine that you want to buy some tinned beans from the supermarket. You
know that there are a number of different brands and sizes of tinned
beans. So before you go to the supermarket, you will decide
what beans you want, what size tin, what flavour and what price
you are willing to pay. You also will decide by what time
you will make the purchase so that you can get home in time.
When you get to the shopping centre, you go to the map of the
centre and look for the supermarket. You will find it quite
easily as the directory will show you where it is. But you
can’t get there until you have found the little red arrow
that says, ”You are now here.” Once you find that
arrow, you will be able to find out what route to take to get there.
These two stories illustrate what outcomes-based thinking is all
about. They mean that you have to:
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Decide what you want, and what you are looking
for in terms of standards. |
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The standards you apply to almost everything are: Quality,
quantity, time and cost. |
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You have to know your present situation. |
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You have to know where you are going. |
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Only then can you decide how you are going to get there. |
Outcomes-based means simply that you work towards where you want
to go.
When you apply outcomes-based thinking to training, you will
work towards what the person will be competent to do at the end
of the training. This means that you have to decide what the
job needs in terms of competency, and you train only towards that.
This means that outcomes-based training follows a simple process:
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You do a Needs Analysis, which means that you
analyse exactly what competencies are needed. |
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You write standards that the competencies have to meet. |
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You decide how you are going to assess that the learner is
competent. |
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Only then, do you design and write the training programme. |
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You then ensure that the learner meets the minimum requirements
for the standard. |
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You train. |
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Finally, you assess whether the person is competent to do the
job |
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